FR2820581A1 - METHOD FOR READING EMAILS - Google Patents

Abstract

These are electronic mails received in a mailbox (32), a destination terminal (1), accessible through a data transmission network (30) and connected to a server (33) for translating mails e. A mail service field (MIME) specifies a format of at least one payload field. According to the method, the network (30) is transferred from the mailbox (32) to the terminal (1), the service fields (MIME), in the terminal (1), the compatibility between the specified formats is determined. in the service fields, useful data fields and processing capacities of the terminal (1), and in the event of incompatibility, the terminal (1) orders a forwarding of the mails to the translation server (33).

Description

The present invention relates to the reception of electronic mails by

  a terminal connected to a data transmission network

like for example the Internet.

  The e-mails exchanged through the Internet conform to a specified format allowing them to be read by any computer on the Internet. An email message has a header field, including service signals specifying the content type of the rest of the

  message, a text field and possibly an attachment field.

  When the message is received by a terminal with limited processing capacity, for example a mobile telephone, the latter does not always have the software necessary for reading it. Indeed, the text can be coded by code words of particular characters and then the terminal does not have the software

  decoding providing the image associated with each code word.

  Furthermore, an attachment can have any format, for example a pixel format with compression in the case of an image, which

  may also not be provided in the receiving terminal.

  Conventionally, an electronic mail message is received in a mailbox (BAL) from an Internet service provider and the terminal cyclically reads its BAL. If the mail retransmitted from the BAL is illegible, the terminal sends it back to a translation server, specifying the formats it can process, and the server returns the mail under

readable form.

  Such an operation requires numerous exchanges of letters, which represent communication costs and contribute to the saturation of the

network.

  The present invention aims to simplify the reading of electronic mails. To this end, the invention relates to a method of reading e-mails received in a mailbox, from a recipient terminal, accessible through a data transmission network and connected to a translation server for e-mails, these ci comprising a service field specifying a format of at least one useful data field, a method characterized by the fact that - the service fields of the mails received are transferred by the network to the terminal, the terminal, the compatibility between the formats, specified in the service fields, useful data fields and processing capacities of the terminal, is determined, and - in the event of incompatibility, the terminal commands a forwarding of the mails to the server of translation, the mails being associated with

  information specifying the final recipients of the translated mail.

  Thus, the field of useful data is always transmitted wisely, either to the terminal, if it can read it, or to the translation server which is redirected to the terminal or to another recipient specified by it. The latter case occurs, for example, when the terminal detects that the format of the message cannot be translated into a format compatible with its logical processing capacities or that it does not have enough memory compared to the format of the data. The word format here designates both the computer form of presentation of useful data and their size. Note also that the specification of the other recipient can be explicit, and therefore variable with each message, or implicit and depending on the identity or address of the terminal considered, which is in the field of service.

  The invention will be better understood using the following description

  of a preferred embodiment of the method of the invention, with reference to the single appended figure which represents a data transmission network to which equipment is connected for the implementation of the method

the invention.

  In the figure, the reference 30 designates a data transmission network and precisely here the Internet network. A data processing terminal 1 has a mailbox 32 at an Internet service provider 31. In this example, terminal 1 is a terminal of a radiotelephony network 20, here the GSM cellular network, which allows it

  to connect to the access service provider 31.

  To the Internet network 30 are connected a computer 34 making it possible to exchange electronic mails and a server 33 for converting or

  translation of emails.

  It will be recalled that an electronic mail comprises a service or header field, called MIME, a useful text data field, in the Internet coding format of the Internet, and possibly a useful part data field. attached in any coding format. The attachment field is encapsulated in the e-mail message and is transported over the Internet 30 without being analyzed. The MIME service field specifies the sender and recipient addresses of the mail and indicates the position, in the message, of the text field and, where applicable, that of the attachment and the computer format or type of coding which has was used to represent the data. A "TIF" format indicates for example that it is

of an image, coded by pixels.

  The encoding format of the email text field is also specified in the MIME field. Indeed, there are a large number of alphabets and the receiving terminal must be informed of the type of code to be used

  to correctly read each mail received.

  The process of reading an e-mail received in the box

  to letters 32 will now be explained.

  The terminal 1 cyclically scans the filling state of its mailbox 32 to determine whether a new electronic mail message has not arrived since the last scan which

would therefore not have been treated.

  As a variant, the mailbox 32, in fact the access service provider 31, detects the arrival of each mail and calls the terminal 1 to receive instructions for routing the mail to the terminal 1 or to

  the translation server 33, as explained below.

  In either case, the MIME service field of the mail received, excluding the useful text field (s) of text and, is transferred via the GSM network from mailbox 32 to terminal 1.

attachment.

  Preferably, as here, the service of

  SMS short messages, to limit the cost of communication.

  This transfer is controlled for example by the terminal 1. In the case of the variant with call by the mailbox 32, it can be provided that the latter automatically sends the MIME service field to the terminal 1, both at the same time warning of the arrival of a letter and descriptor of the format of its content. As already indicated, the word "format" means at the

  both the computer coding format and the size of the fields.

  In terminal 1, the MIME field is read to determine the compatibility between the format (s) of the useful data field (s) and the processing capacities of terminal 1. The MIME field further indicating the position (s) of the field (s) useful data in the e-mail message, this information therefore indicates the size or format of the useful data fields. The above processing capacities therefore relate to the types of codes available in terminal 1 for reading the

  mail and / or available memory size.

  In the event of compatibility, the terminal 1 commands the access service provider 31 to send the mail or the rest of the mail, that is to say at least the useful data field or fields, for a reading of the box

letters 32.

  In the event of incompatibility, the terminal 1 commands the access service provider 31 to return the mail to the translation server 33, the mail being logically associated with information specifying a recipient

  translated mail, as explained below.

  The final recipient can be terminal 1 or another recipient, such as computer 34. In addition, the final recipient can be specified from

  definitively or may vary with each letter.

  For example, the translation server 33 can systematically send the translated mail to the recipient (original) address of the MIME field, that is to say send it to mailbox 32. It is therefore useless to explicitly specify, in addition to the mail message, the return address. Terminal 1 can, as a variant, associate, with the mail returned to

  translation server 33, the address of the final recipient 34.

  Still alternatively, the translation server 33 includes a table of a plurality of final recipient addresses 34 specified by the terminal 110 in a commissioning or initialization phase, and the server 33 selects

  each time one of these depending on the format of the translated mail,

  ie capacities specified in the table, potential recipients 34, in

  terms of memory volume and / or type of processing.

  In particular, terminal 1 can belong to the above table and

  have priority to receive the translated mail.

  The translation server 33 then compares the computer formats of the mails returned on it and the computer formats of the table associated with the recipient addresses 34 to select the types or formats of the

  translations to be carried out and the recipients of the letters translated.

  The new format or encoding type of the translated mail can however be specified to the translation server 33 by an associated command.

  to the mail returned, as well as the final recipient address.

Claims (5)

  1 - Method for reading electronic mails received in a mailbox (32), from a destination terminal (1), accessible through a data transmission network (30) and connected to a server (33) for translating electronic mails, these comprising a service field (MIME) specifying a format of at least one field of useful data, process characterized in that - the mailbox (32) is transferred by the network (30) ) at o terminal (1), the service fields (MIME) of received mail, - in terminal (1), the compatibility between the formats specified in the service fields, payload fields and processing of the terminal (1), and - in the event of incompatibility, the terminal (1) orders a return of the s5 mails to the translation server (33), the mails being associated with   information specifying final recipients (34) of the translated mails.   2 - Method according to claim 1, wherein the terminal (1)   specifies to the server (33) an encoding format for the translated mail.   3 - Method according to one of claims 1 and 2, wherein the   terminal (1) specifies to the server (33), for each mail, an address of final recipient (34).   4 - Method according to one of claims 1 and 2, wherein the   terminal (1) specifies to the server (33), in a commissioning phase, a plurality of recipient addresses (34) associated with computer formats for encoding translated mail, which the server (33) then compares with computer formats of returned mail to select mail formats   translation of letters and their recipients.   - Method according to one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the   service field transfer (MIME) is done by a message service short (SMS).   6 - Method according to one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the box   to letters (32) detects the arrival of a mail and calls the terminal (1) to receive instructions for routing mail to the terminal (1) or to the server (33).